LONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.

The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

The findings, from a study of some 1,200 people, could have implications inthe United States among other countries. Several states have legalizedmarijuana and others are moving toward it. It is decriminalized in a numberof other countries.

"Support for liberal marijuana use is partly due to claims that it isbeneficial and possibly not harmful to health," said Barbara Yankey, whoco-led the research at the school of public health at Georgia StateUniversity in the United States.

"It is important to establish whether any health benefits outweigh thepotential health, social and economic risks. If marijuana use is implicatedin cardiovascular diseases and deaths, then it rests on the health communityand policy makers to protect the public."

Marijuana is also sometimes used for medicinal purposes, such as forglaucoma.

The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, was aretrospective follow-up study of 1,213 people aged 20 or above who had beeninvolved in a large and ongoing National Health and Nutrition ExaminationSurvey. In 2005-2006, they were asked if they had ever used marijuana.

For Yankey's study, information on marijuana use was merged with mortalitydata in 2011 from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, andadjusted for confounding factors such as tobacco smoking and variablesincluding sex, age and ethnicity.

The average duration of use among users of marijuana, or cannabis, was 11.5years.

The results showed marijuana users had a 3.42-times higher risk of deathfrom hypertension than non-users, and a 1.04 greater risk for each year ofuse.

There was no link between marijuana use and dying from heart orcerebrovascular diseases such as strokes.

Yankey said were limitations in the way marijuana use was assessed --including that researchers could not be sure whether people had used thedrug continuously since they first tried it.

But she said the results chimed with plausible risks, since marijuana isknown to affect the cardiovascular system.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those whohave never used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.The findings, from a study of some 1,200 people, could have implicationsin the United States among other countries. Several states have legalizedmarijuana and others are moving toward it. It is decriminalized in anumber of other countries."Support for liberal marijuana use is partly due to claims that it isbeneficial and possibly not harmful to health," said Barbara Yankey, whoco-led the research at the school of public health at Georgia StateUniversity in the United States."It is important to establish whether any health benefits outweigh thepotential health, social and economic risks. If marijuana use isimplicated in cardiovascular diseases and deaths, then it rests on thehealth community and policy makers to protect the public."Marijuana is also sometimes used for medicinal purposes, such as forglaucoma.The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, wasa retrospective follow-up study of 1,213 people aged 20 or above who hadbeen involved in a large and ongoing National Health and NutritionExamination Survey. In 2005-2006, they were asked if they had ever usedmarijuana.For Yankey's study, information on marijuana use was merged with mortalitydata in 2011 from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, andadjusted for confounding factors such as tobacco smoking and variablesincluding sex, age and ethnicity.The average duration of use among users of marijuana, or cannabis, was11.5 years.The results showed marijuana users had a 3.42-times higher risk of deathfrom hypertension than non-users, and a 1.04 greater risk for each year ofuse.There was no link between marijuana use and dying from heart orcerebrovascular diseases such as strokes.Yankey said were limitations in the way marijuana use was assessed --including that researchers could not be sure whether people had used thedrug continuously since they first tried it.But she said the results chimed with plausible risks, since marijuana isknown to affect the cardiovascular system."Marijuana stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, leading to increasesin heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen demand," she said.Experts not directly involved in the study said its findings would need tobe replicated, but already raised concerns."Despite the widely held view that cannabis is benign, this research addsto previous work suggesting otherwise," said Ian Hamilton, a lecturer inmental health at Britain's York University.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920to 1933 USA prohibition.

I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920 to1933 USA prohibition.I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920to 1933 USA prohibition.I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Complete bollocks. After a TIA (stroke) last Xmas I have been monitoringmy BP every day. A bong doesn't make the slightest bit of difference tomy BP one way or the other.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920 to1933 USA prohibition.I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Complete bollocks. After a TIA (stroke) last Xmas I have been monitoringmy BP every day. A bong doesn't make the slightest bit of difference tomy BP one way or the other.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920to 1933 USA prohibition.I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Complete bollocks. After a TIA (stroke) last Xmas I have been monitoringmy BP every day. A bong doesn't make the slightest bit of difference tomy BP one way or the other.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920to 1933 USA prohibition.I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Complete bollocks. After a TIA (stroke) last Xmas I have been monitoringmy BP every day. A bong doesn't make the slightest bit of difference tomy BP one way or the other.

The times I have smoke it it hasn't been a pleasant experience.

Perhaps the type of person who find this pleasurable is more likely tohave high blood pressure?

Your denial misses the point that blood pressure naturally increaseswith age and that smoking could well accelerate this natural process.

Post by BurfordTJusticeMarijuana use holds three-fold blood pressure death risk: studyLONDON (Reuters) - People who smoke marijuana have a three times greaterrisk of dying from hypertension, or high blood pressure, than those who havenever used the drug, scientists said on Wednesday.The risk grows with every year of use, they said.

It has been estimated there were 10,000 deaths resulting from the 1920to 1933 USA prohibition.I suspect the probability here from hypertension would be similarlyreduced if the substance was made legal and with consistent quality.

Complete bollocks. After a TIA (stroke) last Xmas I have been monitoringmy BP every day. A bong doesn't make the slightest bit of difference tomy BP one way or the other.

The times I have smoke it it hasn't been a pleasant experience.

It's not for everyone. You might also have been in the wrong setting orwith the wrong people.

Post by FredxxxPerhaps the type of person who find this pleasurable is more likely tohave high blood pressure?Your denial misses the point that blood pressure naturally increaseswith age and that smoking could well accelerate this natural process.